22 5 / 2013
Today’s Sun Sentinel front page is so special, it needed two pages. For a feature on Chris “The Birdman” Andersen (and to kick off our conference finals coverage), I wrapped his tattooed arms around to the back page, where the story jump is. It took quite a bit of work and communication with the press room to pull this off, but I’m glad we made the effort.
21 5 / 2013
Playlist: Miami Marlins' walk-up songs
I quickly put together this embedded Spotify list of the Marlins’ walk-up songs. And lets be serious, we’re running out of things to say about the worst team in baseball.
16 5 / 2013
USA Gymnastics considering prosthetics
A talented eight-year-old named Bailee Iorg has fallen in love with what was likely my first love: gymnastics. The difference is that she only has one leg. Her limb difference has caused USAG to consider prosthetic limbs. If they allow her to compete, her competition should be nervous. Watch her video here.
I strongly hope they allow her to be a competitive gymnast. I had many years full of wonderful memories as a competitive gymnast, and I know the experience will turn this strong young girl into an unstoppable woman, and she’ll inspire others along the way.
You can sign the petition here to let USAG know you’re with Bailee.
07 5 / 2013
espn reinforcing gender stereotypes
There isn’t enough time in the day to discuss ESPN’s sins against journalism, but my latest problem with the media giant is found in their magazine. Usually, I love ESPN the Magazine. I think it’s the best journalism they produce, and they design is fantastic. The latest issue celebrated the 15th anniversary of the magazine, and it brought back many of the favorite features from the last 15 years.
In the Playbook section, which spanned 10.25 pages, six sports were highlighted, and they asked various athletes to play along in beloved features. Only one woman was featured, WNBA player Elena Delle Donne, and her feature was her cooking skills, featuring her favorite recipe for Mediterranean pasta. There was only one word about her athletic skills. Literally one word, found in the subhead: “Score, sure, but this rook can dish too.” She was also given the least amount of real estate: only half a page. The space breakdown is as follows: NBA - 5, NHL - 1.75, MLB - 1, Lacrosse - 1, WNBA - .5, Motorsports - 1.
It’s easy to see the problem here, but the solution would have also been easy. Here are some simple ways they could have avoided reinforcing gender stereotypes and making me mad:
- Do the cooking feature with a male athlete. They eat too.
- Feature more than one woman so the cooking feature wasn’t the only feature associated with female athletes.
- Give Elena more editorial space by moving her to a full page and dedicating half the page to her athletic talents and half to cooking.
It would be unfair to feature an equal number of female athletes and male athletes — there are simply more male athletes. But c’mon, ESPN, I can’t be the only one who noticed this.
06 5 / 2013
My portfolio website
I updated my portfolio for the first time since joining the Sun Sentinel. Finally.
01 5 / 2013
"Anytime somebody comes to me with something, my first instinct when I look at it is to think bigger. That’s my instinctual piece of advice. Think bigger. Whatever it is, blow it out of proportion and see where that takes you. Come back to me when you’ve thought about that times 100. Show me what that looks like."
26 4 / 2013
The newsonomics of the Koch Brothers
An interesting read about what it might mean if the Koch brothers buy the Tribune newspapers, which include the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and the South Florida Sun Sentinel.
26 4 / 2013
"User engagement is like exercise. Small doses on a regular basis will keep your audience engaged and happy."
22 4 / 2013
Awesome infographics
I absolutely love visual.ly, and every so often I take a little bit to go through their data visualizations on various topics. Here’s what I learned today:
- Childhood obesity has more than tripled in the last twenty years in children ages 12-19.
- Two-thirds of the world’s poor live in Asia.
- Local businesses generate 70% more local economic activity than big-box stores, generating 3.5 times more wealth for the local economy.
- In 2012, 26 million bags were mishandled at international airports — down from 47 million in 2007.
- 28 percent of people now use a tablet as their primary computer.
- Full-time web designers earn an average salary of $95,000 per year, and almost half are between the ages of 25-34.
- Drake has more than 41 million followers when combining Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, making him the king of hip-hop on social media.
22 4 / 2013
Newspaper Barons Resurface
The Tribune Co. newspapers (The LA Times, Chicago Tribune and Sun Sentinel, among others) are still up for sale, and there is some concern over the wealthy few who have invested in newspapers recently. Some push very clear agendas, and that can be a problem for an editorial staff that does not. Some just want to experiment with a new hobby. All in all, I love this quote from the post that tries to explain why people would want to get involved with such a shaky industry.
Newspapers may be short on profits, but they have become a new form of ostentation. How rich is he? He can afford to own a newspaper, for crying out loud.
